Drones Went from Toys to a $1 Billion Industry | Ft. Diego Rodriguez

So, it's 2026 and I can definitely say

in the last 10 years in the drone

industry as it is an actual industry, in

my opinion, probably the number one

thing that has changed the most in this

industry is simply the fact that people

generally look as drones as a legitimate

professional service and not as some

hobby or a toy where years ago it used

to be that way. is, you know, if you had

a drone, if you had the old school

Phantom 1, 2, 3, or even the four, it

was something that hobbyists used.

People on YouTube had drones. People who

were into cameras and video production

had drones. And everybody kind of just

saw it as this is a tool that's used

from a hobbyist perspective or as a big

boy's toy. But more and more, 10 years

have gone on, AI is in everybody's

minds. People recognize now that drones

are AI. It's AI in the sky, what we what

we like to call it. And what we have

seen in the last 10 years of doing this

more than anybody else is from a

professional business perspective,

people no longer look at drone operators

as people who just are playing with toys

or technology or advanced gadgets. They

all recognize it as a professional

business tool. And it goes way beyond

just taking pictures and doing videos,

but it's used for everything from search

and rescue to scanning and mapping and

full-fledged inspections for radio

towers, cell phone towers, dams,

bridges, even nuclear power plants.

They're using drones to inspect them.

So, there's so many things that we can

say, Damon, that have changed in the

last 10 years. But in my perspective, I

think if that's not number one, it's at

least at the very top. Yeah, I think I

I'd agree totally because back in the

day, you know, people were like, "Well,

what is that a drone?" And it's like,

"No, no, no. This is a remote control

multicopter, right?" Like it was we

really had to try and differentiate it

and then separate ourselves from the

hobbyist or the toy market um that it

was and that was that was a a big

challenge. Um, and a lot of, and I think

a lot of it too, the perception has

changed pretty dramatically over the

last decade because a lot of people had

they either had the association that

drones are just toys or they had the

assoc association that drones were just

used in the military to kill people and

and and that was it. There were, you

know, you had big military drones and

then you had the little toys and and

there was nothing in between. But now

we've seen just a massive adoption in

all kinds of industries and all sectors

across the board. And we've never had as

the supply is getting bigger, the demand

keeps growing and it's outpacing the

supply at at the point we are now, which

creates this incredible opportunity we

have now.

So, it's awesome because as we're

recording this this podcast, it is March

of 2026.

And for us, for you and me, this is kind

of an awesome month because it is our

literal exact 10-year anniversary of the

launch of Drone Command Live, which is

our live event that we've hosted nearly

monthly for 10 whopping years. I mean,

an entire decade we've been hosting this

live event. And of course, we started

off having these events all over the

country in some of the big cities all

over the place from coast to coast,

California, Texas, Florida, um,

everywhere. I mean, we I don't know if

we were in all 50 states, but we got

pretty close to covering all the regions

of the country. And we have seen in that

time, of course, the the purpose of

drone command Live was for people to

come and learn how to start a drone

business. And 10 years ago, what it took

to start a drone business was not

necessarily super complicated, but it

was legitimately different than it is

today in terms of what opportunities

exist and the perception of the

marketplace of what it is. So, in 10

years, nobody has seen more people than

you and I start successful drone

businesses. probably nobody's seen more

people fail either because people always

want to do it their own way and you know

kind of reinvent the wheel and they

screw things up and we try to warn them

what not to do but nobody wants to

listen to experience because you know

this is human nature and the way people

are. But in those 10 years literally we

can say we can look anybody in the eye

and say nobody has helped more what we

call dronereneurs get started with a

successful and legitimate drone business

making actual real money in the real

world. And the crazy thing is, Damon, is

that people don't realize what

opportunity exists. People think it's a

side hustle. Like, hey, I'll make a

couple extra bucks here and there, like

they're doing like Uber or something

like that, and they're just trying to

make side hustle or gig gig economy type

money. But the folks who join um our

network of drone operators and come to

Drone Command Live, they're making more

money than airline pilots. Many of them

in their very first year in the drone

business. because people don't even

understand that not only does the drone

offer that opportunity for you, but it's

easier now to get started than ever, but

there's kind of like a small window

left, I think, before the ease by which

people can get into this industry starts

tightening up, right? So I I definitely

see in the near future because again of

this perception that drones are no

longer a toy and it's an actual

professional service then people are

going to realize okay um anybody then

can buy this tool and they can start a

business and it's going to get you know

not necessarily difficult but it's not

going to be as easy as it is right now.

What would you say to that?

Yeah I I totally agree and I think there

there are three things that that really

have happened is the technology has

gotten way better. I mean I look at what

we started with 10 years ago and what

was required and and on the drone side

and the technology side and all the AI

integration that we have now um and you

talk to some of our original members

that started 10 years ago and their

business they're like man these guys are

so lucky now you know it's so much it's

so much easier and the three ways it's

easier is the technology the drones are

just better you can push just push a

button now and the AI does most of the

work for you versus you having to learn

how to do it and and go through that. So

that's better. The sensors are better,

the reliability is better, GPS

connectivity, all that stuff is better.

And then secondarily, like we were just

talking about, the marketplace is more

mature. So you don't have to educate

your clients about the benefits nearly

as much. Now, um there's still some

education that goes into it, but most of

the clients, and this is why we talk

about the demand growing even even

higher, is because they're aware of,

hey, we can bring drones in to inspect

our cell towers or our wind farms o